The inspiration for this potato and kale recipe comes directly from Kevin Arundel, of Cork's Eglantine restaurant. Mr Arundel serves his kale and potato with a rather excellent confit of duck, and it was seeing the suitability of the two ingredients together - the spuds and the greens - which led me to come up with the following mixture.
I have simply added some garlic and some spring onions to the equation, and after stir-frying the kale along with these, I folded in some cubed, cooked potatoes and crushed them with the mixture. You can serve the dish immediately it is ready, or else let it cool, then pack it into a smallish frying pan and fry the potato crush to make a firm cake, creating what is basically a posh bubble and squeak.
Curly kale and potato crush
100g kale leaves
450g peeled potatoes
2 cloves garlic
4 spring onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and cracked pepper
Cut the potatoes into half inch cubes and steam them or boil them in salted water until tender, which only takes about 10 minutes when the potatoes are cut so small. Wash and de-stem the kale leaves, discarding any discoloured leaves. Now chop the leaves roughly.
Slice the garlic thinly, and cut the spring onions into half-inch pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or casserole over medium heat, toss in the sliced garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Toss in the spring onions and saute for 20 seconds, then toss in the chopped kale. Turn the mixture constantly as the kale begins to break down and turn a rich, jade-green.
Now, toss in the potatoes and, using a fork, crush the potatoes among the kale mixture. Don't mash it: you simply want the mixture to be thoroughly intermingled, but the threads of kale and the crushed potatoes should remain distinct. Check for salt and pepper, then serve, drizzling good olive oil over the top.
Alternatively, let the mixture cool, then heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sized pan, pack the mixture into a cake shape, and fry, turning the cake over after about five minutes, then brown the other side.